“This method cannot cultivate even a trace of an Immortal’s Spiritual Power!”
Wang Ba stared at the golden page, his brow furrowed.
Though he had no experience, he had heard that cultivators developed Spiritual Power after entering Qi Refinement. They used it to cast all kinds of wondrous spells, making it the foundation of cultivation.
But this method had nothing whatsoever to do with Spiritual Power.
According to the text, it cultivated something called ‘Yin Spirit Power.’
It could strengthen the mind and confuse other people’s minds. Beyond that, the description was vague.
Cultivating it was much like practicing the Physique Strengthening Scripture.
It took an enormous amount of time!
Just mastering the first layer required at least a hundred years of arduous effort!
Each subsequent layer took ten times longer.
There were three layers in all. The third alone would take at least ten thousand years to master.
“Another method that devours lifespan! And if my comprehension isn’t good enough, even centuries or millennia of practice might not get me started.”
He carefully folded the golden paper and tucked it away. He had no idea where a mortal like Old Man Sun had acquired such a bizarre and demanding manual, but the cost of entry was far too high.
He wasn’t interested. Not yet.
He had yet to master the Physique Strengthening Scripture, and had no time to spend on another method.
“For now, I should concentrate on raising the Rare Fowl. That’s the key to mastering the Physique Strengthening Scripture.”
Wang Ba briskly cleared away the manor’s chicken droppings and refilled the water.
Most of the feed had been eaten, but there was no need to add more today.
As he worked, he performed his daily inventory. Hens, roosters, chicks.
Then, the eggs.
Perhaps because they contained spiritual energy, the eggs did not spoil even after several months. Their shells were also hard to break, making them easy to store.
“Old Man Sun said fertilized eggs have duller shells than unfertilized ones, and something seems to move inside when they are gently shaken.”
He checked them one by one.
The numbers were worrying. He had only a little over 120 eggs.
With fewer than ten days until the end of the month, reaching two hundred at the current laying rate would be difficult.
Disappointingly, none of the three eggs laid today were fertilized.
Still, he was not too disappointed. Both the instructions and Old Man Sun had explained that Rare Fowl were extremely hard to breed. The roosters showed little interest in the hens, and rarely mounted them.
Even with aphrodisiacs, the success rate was abysmal. And if an egg did hatch, the chicks were fragile, often dying for no apparent reason.
Wang Ba, however, had his theories.
Poultry farming had been highly developed in his previous life. He had heard something about it, though he had not worked in the field. Chicks usually died because of poor-quality hatching eggs, disease, unstable temperatures, or similar factors.
There were ways to address all of those problems.
But the libido issue? That was the bottleneck.
Acting as a pimp for chickens was not easy. He would have to think of a way later.
For now, he had a more pressing experiment to run.
After spending a long time examining the flock, Wang Ba finally selected four birds.
Two males, two females.
They were all healthy and fully grown, but not yet mature. They were also close in age, with lifespans of about 19.5 years.
He named them Jia-1, Jia-2, Jia-3, and Jia-4.
Holding Jia-1, he summoned the interface.
He allocated some of his lifespan to each bird.
Jia-1: 0.1 years deposited.
Jia-2: 0.2 years deposited.
Jia-3: 0.3 years deposited.
Jia-4: 0.4 years deposited.
With the 1-to-5 exchange ratio, the chickens received five times his investment.
0.1 became 0.5 years.
0.2 became 1.0 years.
0.3 became 1.5 years.
0.4 became 2.0 years.
Their lifespans jumped to 20, 20.5, 21, and 21.5 years respectively.
He marked them and released them back into the flock.
Having spent another year of lifespan, Wang Ba felt as though he had aged a little.
But he was full of enthusiasm.
That evening he cooked a bowl of porridge and ate it with the pickled vegetables Old Man Sun had given him. He enjoyed the meal.
The next morning.
At the first crow of the rooster, Wang Ba sprang from his bed.
He rushed to the coop and hunted down the four marked chickens.
To his surprise, their lifespans had changed.
Jia-1: 20.7 years (+0.7)
Jia-2: 21.3 years (+0.8)
Jia-3: 21.7 years (+0.7)
Jia-4: 22.1 years (+0.6)
“It really changed! All of them changed!”
“Could my guess be right? Did depositing lifespan into them cause a fundamental transformation?”
The earlier hen had become Spirit Poultry after he deposited lifespan into it. Its lifespan had then risen from about twenty to nearly sixty years.
If a Spirit Poultry was considered an ‘Immortal Bird,’ a 60-year lifespan made sense.
If that were true, his Golden Finger was truly astonishing!
“Steady,” he told himself. “Don’t celebrate yet. Observe.”
“Probably these four again.”
The earlier hen had also eaten far more after receiving lifespan. Perhaps the transformation greatly increased their need for spiritual energy, Wang Ba guessed.
Just then, the rattle of wheels announced the arrival of the supply cart.
A donkey cart delivered dozens of jin of spirit grain bran, Spirit Bean Cake, Spirit Stone powder, and spirit fish bone meal.
He first fed the chickens the previously fermented feed, then set the fresh ingredients aside to ferment.
He also favored the four birds with an extra share of discarded spirit insects.
As expected, they ate eagerly.
Another day of grueling labor passed.
By evening, Wang Ba checked the troughs. Empty again.
“It looks as though these four are going to turn into Spirit Poultry too…”
He did not give the four any more special treatment. Too much of anything was not good, and eating too much at once might be harmful.
Day 2.
Wang Ba isolated the four subjects again.
The change was undeniable.
They had grown larger and stronger and seemed much more spirited, though they still did not look particularly intelligent.
Beside the ordinary Rare Fowl, they stood out like cranes among chickens.
But the real surprise came from Jia-4.
The hen, which had received the largest investment of two years, had laid an egg.
“Not bad,” Wang Ba grinned. “If this keeps up, hitting the 200-egg quota might actually be possible.”
But the eggs were not the main concern. Lifespan still mattered most!
He checked their lifespans again.
Jia-1: 24.0 years (+3.3)
Jia-2: 25.7 years (+4.4)
Jia-3: 25.6 years (+3.9)
Jia-4: 26.3 years (+4.2)
In just one day, they had gained 3.3, 4.4, 3.9, and 4.2 years respectively.
“Could lifespan growth be related to food intake?” Wang Ba stroked his chin, puzzled.
Too little time had passed to draw any conclusions from the figures.
The days passed.
By the eighth day, however, something changed.
Wang Ba scanned the chickens, his brow furrowing.
“Hmm? The lifespan stopped increasing?”